Eggs good or bad for kitty?

craftymelli

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The vet recomended feeding my moms cat, Sheba, chicken eggs for her skin. Are uncooked eggs safe? Or how do i serve them to her? Are they even good for her?
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
The white of the egg should be cooked. Sometimes people will cook the white and add the yolk to make a sort of slurry :)

They're good for cats, but not in large quantities, maybe try one a week or every two.
 

Furballsmom

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I edited my first post to add how frequently to feed but you were really fast :)
 
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craftymelli

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Can eggs upset her stomach and cause loose stools? Sheba sometimes has issues with loose stools too.
 
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craftymelli

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So start slow with part of one egg with white cooked and yolk either cooked or not about every one to two weeks right?
 

daftcat75

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The amount of egg we're talking about is very small. Maybe 1/8 tsp to 1 tsp. I'd start with a small amount in her meals once or twice a day. Giving it more regularly than once or twice a week helps you and her get more comfortable with how it might affect her. And because these are really small amounts compared to a full egg, unless you eat eggs daily, it's probably better to buy or make your own egg yolk powder. It will be more fridge stable than fresh eggs and easier to give small amounts.

You can learn how to make your own egg yolk powder or buy theirs from this page:
 

furmonster mom

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I make egg slurry by separating the white and yolk, cooking the white, chop it to small fine bits (I just go at it in the pan with the spatula), add back to the yolk and stir it up. I give about 1/4 oz with meals every other day or so. The slurry will keep for a couple days in the fridge.
 

Furballsmom

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Let us know what ends up working for your mom's cat :). If the egg doesn't have the desired effect for Sheba's skin (dryness, flakiness?) you could talk to your vet about possibly trying fish oil.
 

bitkit

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All my kittens got acne when I tried for over a month to switch them over to a food with egg product, I couldn't do it due to loose stool. They also got loose stool or diarrhea with 5 other foods with egg product. Not sure if it was the egg product that caused the acne or diarrhea but I stay away from it as I no longer want to follow them to the litter box or clean their chins:) It also isn't part of their natural diet, when was the last time you've seen a cat chase around a chicken egg.

I do recall reading something about egg whites and histamine a while back.
 

furmonster mom

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...It also isn't part of their natural diet, when was the last time you've seen a cat chase around a chicken egg.

I do recall reading something about egg whites and histamine a while back.
Actually, cats have been known to raid birds nests for eggs. Not often, but it is natural behavior.
When they do get an egg, the cats will often not eat the whole thing, so, again, the caution is to give it in small amounts.

Uncooked egg whites have avidin in them, which breaks down vitamin B. Vitamin B is essential to monitoring histamine levels around the heart. The good thing is that egg yolk has lots of vitamin B, so usually, it's balanced enough to give the occasional whole raw egg (quail egg sized).

HOWEVER, if you are giving egg as a part of a protein swap, or for special diet management on a regular basis, it's highly recommended to cook the white, as cooking will destroy the avidin, and any excess vitamin B from the yolk will simply be passed through the system.
 

lisahe

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The amount of egg we're talking about is very small. Maybe 1/8 tsp to 1 tsp. I'd start with a small amount in her meals once or twice a day. Giving it more regularly than once or twice a week helps you and her get more comfortable with how it might affect her. And because these are really small amounts compared to a full egg, unless you eat eggs daily, it's probably better to buy or make your own egg yolk powder. It will be more fridge stable than fresh eggs and easier to give small amounts.

You can learn how to make your own egg yolk powder or buy theirs from this page:
This is great advice. I add hard-boiled egg yolk (that I just boil up when I need them) to our cats' homemade food. They get an average of around one extra yolk a week. (There's also egg yolk in the cooked food supplements I use.)
 
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craftymelli

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This is great advice. I add hard-boiled egg yolk (that I just boil up when I need them) to our cats' homemade food. They get an average of around one extra yolk a week. (There's also egg yolk in the cooked food supplements I use.)
Thanks I think we will try this. Using a hard boiled yolk ground up and split into fourths sprinkle a little bit in the food maybe 2x a week so 1/2 egg yolk total a week but spread out.
 

lisahe

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Thanks I think we will try this. Using a hard boiled yolk ground up and split into fourths sprinkle a little bit in the food maybe 2x a week so 1/2 egg yolk total a week but spread out.
You could do that, though I really think daftcat75 daftcat75 had a good point about this:
Giving it more regularly than once or twice a week helps you and her get more comfortable with how it might affect her.
Some cats don't really like it so smaller amounts may be more palatable, plus sometimes too much (for an individual cat) can cause diarrhea, as B bitkit noted. (The choline in the egg yolk pushes helps move food thorugh the digestive tract.) Our cats like it and do fine with quite a bit of it added but not all do! The biggest reason I think it's good to feed it as regularly as possible is that it acts as an emulsifier to prevent hairballs -- I like having that going all the time since one of our cats is very fluffy and can build up a lot of hair fast!
 
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